1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention are related to the field of electronic devices, and in particular, to presence systems.
2. Description of Related Art
A presence and instant messaging (IM) system allows clients (users) to subscribe to each other and be notified of changes in state, and for clients to send each other short instant messages. With an IM service, one or more IM servers may be used. The IM server automatically manages the presence information for the clients, distributing the information as needed or requested. Presence is a way for a client to make its connection or availability known or available to other clients. Typically, operation of an IM service requires both the recipient (a client) and the sender (also a client) of the instant message to be online at the same time.
A network may have many attached devices offering and/or seeking services, capabilities and/or resources of other devices. It is often difficult to locate devices offering particular services. To facilitate locating and tracking devices and their services, various “web service” or “directory service” technologies have been implemented.